


bad omen

by Keeryd



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: Donatello wants to help, Gen, Late Night Conversations, Leonardo is not okay, Post-Season/Series 04, everything with Leonardo is complicated at this point, he's the master at repressing his emotions, neither the others but yikes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:46:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27971813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keeryd/pseuds/Keeryd
Summary: Leonardo and Donatello have a late night conversation.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo (TMNT)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 26





	bad omen

"Tell me, for what?" asks Leonardo, sitting with his back against the back of the armchair and his legs crossed, looking at some dead point in the barely lit room. He was holding a cup, and by that point if there was any tea left in it, it was already as cold as that very night. If Donatello had not previously been watching his older brother, he probably would not have heard him.

Moving slightly in his place, settling down in his brother's direction, Donatello asks, "what _for what,_ exactly?" There is something screaming in the back of his mind that whatever is happening is not going to end well, but he can't run away either.

Leonardo had been like this for a while already, if before Splinter's death it was already difficult to get close to his older brother, afterwards it had only been worse. Everyone had their way of dealing with it, even after almost three years, Leonardo's way was to simply bury that in the depths of himself, nothing going in, nothing going out; but a side effect of that had been the palpable breach between Leonardo and them.

He was there, yes, taking charge of leading the family, providing whatever they needed, keeping them and their friends in shape, but when there were no such things to take care of, it was as if he were thousands of miles away from them, lost in a place none of them had any idea about and that they couldn't reach.

So no, even if Donatello wanted to, he couldn't escape from it.

"All those times, all those fights, where death was such a probability that it was a miracle to get out alive... for what? Look at us now, so strong on the outside, but so fragile on the inside that any argument between us could break us," Donatello sees his brother turn his gaze even further away from him, as if he wanted to hide in the shadows of the room. "Was it worth it?"

Leonardo looks for a moment into his cup, considering drinking from it and then simply leaving the cup on the drawer beside him, letting out a sigh and closing his eyes.

"All we— _no_ , all I did all my life was go out there and lead you into a battle against things that were almost always out of our game, beyond our world, all I did was sacrifice myself over and over again, thousands of times accepting death with open arms and it never came, all I did was fight over and over and over again, and for what?" Leonardo asks again, "what do you think I did it for, Donnie?

Donatello does not answer right away, repeating his brother's words over and over again, trying to figure out what he wanted from him, what answers Leonardo needed. Donatello still has his eye on him, even if Leonardo is not looking at him.

"... For the greater good, for us."

That's when Leonardo finally looks at him, with something indescribable in his eyes, which seem to be seeing right through him, breaking down everything Donatello believes is behind the safety of his being.

Leonardo, after a few moments, only lets out a laugh. It's dry, and it feels like a bad omen. Leonardo was planning something.

His brother says nothing more, getting up from the couch and leaving the room, leaving Donatello wondering what the hell just happened, and fearing whatever was about to come next. 

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my drafts for a while now, so why not? hope y'all enjoyed this thingy


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